Hacker News Reader

Comment by dyeje | Hacker News Reader

Fun read, but this is needlessly cynical and overwrought. Engineers compartmentalize because it's impossible to hold the entire system in your head. Companies parallelized the tracks because people finally figured out the best engineers do not always make good managers.

Is there a better system? Probably. Is this a grand conspiracy? No.

View on HN

It isn't a conspiracy, it's an emergent system.

"Why did all major software companies settle on parallel career tracks? To keep engineering managers from developing loyalty to engineers."

I think your tone here implies intent

You're right. When I talk about complex systems I generally mean "this behavior emerged because of pressure to optimize for property X", but it's awkward to keep repeating that so I anthropomorphize them for simplicity. Should clarify that at some point.

This is a great clarification. I'd even argue that systems and organizations can have an independent intent, though we don't often use the word in that context.

> I'd even argue that systems and organizations can have an independent intent

You're not the only one: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ (If section I seems a bit slow - it's busy establishing that there is a problem in the first place - skip to section II.)

I see a lot of people, myself included, who dreaded the way company works. I'm outside the field now, and having seen my own failures to create software / group / work. I tend to believe that I was very much partially blind. I also see a lot of younger people speaking like me, disgust of the system, laudable desires to make great work for less, but failing to make a dent (at best) or going like me, spinning in ideals.

All this to ask, can we adjust the emergent system just to improve it ? can we describe better what are the reasons behind the links between different groups so new generations don't have to question them ?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com